Four More From the Fair

I replaced my water heater Monday so today, as a reward, I treated myself to another go-round at the Minnesota State Fair. Upon entering, I was greeted with this sight:



I suspect it was something less than Bob Marley's idea of redemption; the callow youth inside didn't appear to have much of a spiritual bent. One fair performer who did raise my spirits is the new "Fresh Fries Fairy", shown here sprinkling "fairy dust" (or was that salt?) on some of her fans:



Speaking of salt, a couple of old "salty dogs", Chris Hillman and his pal Herb Pedersen, were holding court on the Leine Lodge Bandshell. They were in The Desert Rose Band together and Chris is also an alum of The Byrds, Manassas,  and The Souther-Hillman-Furay Band. He was also in the legendary Flying Burrito Brothers with Gram Parsons. A shiver went through the crowd when they performed Eight Miles High:

On a more melancholy note, the horse building seems to have fewer and fewer horses each year; several sections of the horse barn that held horses last year were completely empty:



It was a marked contrast to the other livestock buildings, which seemed full of life.